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Thousands flee as fighting erupts around camps in eastern Congo

Press Releases, 13 November 2007

Tuesday 13 November 2007

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Tens of thousands of previously uprooted Congolese in five major displacement camps were forced to flee again Tuesday following the latest confrontation between government forces and suspected renegade troops in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Though the camps, near the town of Goma, were apparently not directly targeted, panic soon spread among the displaced, according to UNHCR staff.

"There is an attack and we have to leave," a frightened internally displaced Congolese told a UNHCR field safety advisor in the area.

At least 28,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) out of some 38,000 sheltered at sites Mugunga I, Mugunga II and Lac Vert have left following Tuesday's dawn skirmishes in hills surrounding the camps. Sporadic gunfire and mortar rounds could still be heard in the area Tuesday morning. In addition, estimates are some 2,000 people have fled from the Bulengo, an IDP site hosting some 10,000 IDPs.

The situation is dramatic and critical as tens of thousands of IDPs from the camps, mixed with local people who are also fleeing the fighting, jam roads leading to Goma under torrential rains. Some of them were arriving at Buhimba, an IDP site near Goma that UNHCR established in early October.

"The main road toward Sake was crowded with people; we had difficulties getting through," said UNHCR field safety advisor Pierre Nazroo. "Internally displace people are moving from site to site, direction Goma."

According to sketchy initial reports, the IDPs have taken their belongings and the some of the aid they received at the camps with them. Some of the sites were reportedly pillaged after the IDPs left. Few of the plastic sheets distributed by UNHCR last week can still be seen covering makeshift huts in the camps.

UNHCR teams, together with other UN agencies, are presently trying to assess the new situation and immediate needs, including shelter, food and protection.

Continued fighting in North Kivu province between government forces, renegade troops and rebels since December 2006 has led to the worst internal displacement in the area since the end of the civil war in 2004. Some 375,000 Congolese have been forced to leave their homes in the province since last December, including more than 160,000 in the last two months alone.

UNHCR is urging all parties to refrain from attacks on internally displaced people and civilians, and to find a negotiated solution for the prolonged violence that continues to plague North Kivu and its population.

With sharpening inter-ethnic divides and a continuous build-up of military forces, UNHCR remains deeply concerned about the risks of severe human rights abuses and violence against civilians.

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The crisis in North Kivu continues

Insecurity in Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province continues, with more than 500,000 people internally displaced, many for the second or third time. Armed combat, persecution of civilians, killings, abductions, sexual abuse and forced recruitment of children still lead to displacement. Reports of rapes and murders number in the thousands. Some 176,000 of the displaced live in Masisi District, including 49,000 hosted in 19 camps. Conditions are harsh, with entire families living in one-room ramshackle huts with no water or services. UNHCR is very concerned about the security situation, living conditions and the future of the displaced. Even though some 36,000 people living in camps in North Kivu managed to return home in 2010, approximately 72,000 remain.

UNHCR is coordinating 31 camps for internally displaced people (IDP) in the whole of North Kivu, providing emergency assistance. UNHCR is facing enormous challenges in terms of access to the areas where the IDPs are hosted and continues to plead for humanitarian access to assist the people in need.

The crisis in North Kivu continues

Congo's river refugees

More than 100,000 Congolese refugees have crossed the Oubangui River in search of safety in neighbouring Republic of the Congo since inter-ethnic violence erupted in their home areas late last year. They fled from Equateur province in the north-west of Democratic Republic of the Congo after Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults in October on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area. The tensions have spread to other parts of the province.

The majority of the displaced are camping in public buildings and some 100 sites along a 600-kilometre stretch of the Oubangui River, including with host communities. The massive influx is stretching the meagre resources of the impoverished and remote region. Help is urgently needed for both the refugees and the host communities.

The relief operation is logistically complex and expensive because the region can only be reached by plane or boat. However, few boats are available and most are in need of repair. Fuel is expensive and difficult to procure.

Congo's river refugees

Displaced in North Kivu: A Life on the Run

Fighting rages on in various parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with seemingly no end in sight for hundreds of thousands of Congolese forced to flee violence and instability over the past two years. The ebb and flow of conflict has left many people constantly on the move, while many families have been separated. At least 1 million people are displaced in North Kivu, the hardest hit province. After years of conflict, more than 1,000 people still die every day - mostly of hunger and treatable diseases. In some areas, two out of three women have been raped. Abductions persist and children are forcefully recruited to fight. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseases have increased as the situation deteriorates and humanitarian agencies struggle to respond to the needs of the displaced.

When the displacement crisis worsened in North Kivu in 2007, the UN refugee agency sent emergency teams to the area and set up operations in several camps for internally displaced people (IDPs). Assistance efforts have also included registering displaced people and distributing non-food aid. UNHCR carries out protection monitoring to identify human rights abuses and other problems faced by IDPs in North and South Kivu.

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